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Communication Tools
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Mailing Lists |
Web Boards |
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Participation |
Since the posts come automatically to a person's email box it's easier to get them to participate, even passively (only reading). If the traffic dies, people usually remained subscribed to the list (since it takes a conscious effort to unsubscribe a list) |
People must remember to visit the board. If posting dies off for a while people will tend to quit visiting the board. They will then miss any new traffic. It is possible on some boards to have email sent automatically to members of the board. |
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Joining and quitting the discussion |
It can be difficult to get people to join a list. They have to be educated on the difference between the administrative and list addresses. People can't always get to their mail if they have a PPP account and aren't familiar with how to configure a PPP email program to take mail from their server. |
People can benefit from the discussion even if they're not a member. They can post, too, without being a member. People can visit the board at any time, using any web browser program. |
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Selective Reading |
Since all the posts come to the email box, one must deal with threads that are of no interest. It's easy to feel overwhelmed with a busy list. |
One just reads only the threads of interest. All the threads are presented and the reader can pick the ones of interest, ignore the others. |
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Context |
With email-based lists, people often feel they need to quote an entire post in order to respond to a small part of it. They do so to establish the context, or provenance, of the topic. |
On a web board the previous posts are there and usually read in order so it's not necessary to quote an entire post inorder to establish context for a single remark. but sections of previous posts can be quoted when necessary. |
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